Celebrating the resurgence of Michigan Avenue in southwest Detroit

The Michigan Avenue Business Association (MABA) and Holding House hosted a special event on June 17 celebrating the ongoing revitalization of a stretch of Michigan Avenue in southwest Detroit.

The event featured an arts and crafts “open air market,” creative billboard project, and gallery opening. MABA is a group of business owners and community stakeholders devoted to the revitalization of an underutilized section of Michigan Avenue between I-96 and Wyoming. Holding House is an artist-run workspace, and it opened its “A Place to Rest the Head” ceramics art show Saturday evening.

Artist Marty Winters in front of the billboard displaying his artwork.

The open air market took place at 3608 Michigan Avenue, a vacant lot on 25th and Michigan Avenue that has been reactivated through a community partnership led by Southwest Solutions. The lot is the locus of the “Reclaiming the Sky: Billboard Art Project,” which exhibits the work of local artists who submitted their designs through an arts competition.

Artist Marty Winters is the first to have his work displayed on the billboard at 3608 Michigan Avenue through the “Reclaiming the Sky: Billboard Art Project.”

The special event exemplifies the belief that art can ignite change and has the power to transform public spaces, neighborhoods, and commercial corridors.